Chapter 64: Accidentally Shattered the Esports Dreams of Five Young People

"PE was right; NXG is as strong as a ghost."

In the backstage area, after finishing the simple opening ceremony of the preseason, IG, who had come to probe the opponent's true strength, did not rush back to the small hotel where the team rested.

They had only been watching the match until now, and everyone's face wore a hint of unnaturalness.

Last-hitting minions: all five members of NXG, except for the support, seemed to be at the level of Smile.

Their vision control was flawless, far superior to their own IG by an unknown magnitude.

There was also the synergy between heroes and the teamfight coordination...

The bald man's smile became increasingly obvious as he accidentally plucked a handful of his own hair again. "NXG isn't just strong because of that JM; the other five are all top-tier players."

"Square Dragon, isn't your MP just talking nonsense? The data results are right in front of us; do we need you to say it?"

"Luckily we weren't grouped with NXG in the preseason; if we had met them early, we'd probably have flipped the water."

After applying the strategy of using JM to fight WE in ranked matches to their own team, the result was unsatisfactory; Zita and Yingzi's mid-jungle duo could only gain a slight advantage over Ruo Feng and Ming Kai, and wanting to learn from the opponent to completely collapse them in a hundred games was something that would rarely happen even once.

From this perspective, that damn JM's personal ability truly reached a level that was beyond comprehension.

Of course, there were certain reasons why IG couldn't handle WE's mid-jungle.

Having walked all the way from Season 2, the two teams knew each other far too well.

For WE to win, they had to mindlessly suppress PDD's farming, making Strawberry endure extreme pressure and succeed; conversely, Yingzi and Zita applied enough pressure to Ruo Feng, then the mid-jungle duo ganked the bottom lane for a four-man dive, preventing Smile from farming.

However, in terms of jungle experience, Yingzi was far inferior to Ming Kai.

How to protect the bottom lane was simply carved into their bones.

On the contrary, that old silver coin Ming Kai could occasionally, besides arranging for Kid to go bottom, turn around and set one or two wild boar traps for his own bottom lane.

"If the early game collapses, BLQG's ultimate-based composition has no damage; there's no way to play."

"If we meet NXG in the match, how do you think we should play to win?" PDD asked.

In the IG team, Kid and Zita were still two kids, and since Yingzi didn't like to talk much, PDD's question was implicitly directed at the support, Xiao Xiao, for communication.

Xiao Xiao knew PDD was talking about the main tournament; because IG had the third-place ranking in the City Battle, they were considered a seed team in the preseason, so they automatically avoided the first-place teams from the Server Battle and the Media Selection, while NXG was in Group A and they were placed in Group C.

"It's hard to say now; these people from NXG are like two different faces when playing training matches versus the main tournament; they are extremely aggressive in training matches, but once it's the main tournament, they are as steady as a thousand-year-old turtle; without meeting them on the official stage, there is basically no reference value."

"Forget it, let's not dwell on it; anyway, the team most likely to fight NXG in the next round is LGD; let's just strive for two consecutive wins and advance directly."

"Even if we do meet them, there's no need to be afraid; just beat them up and that's it."

"Good, Old Park, we're counting on you then; our bottom lane is already lying down."

"Get lost; if you miss your ultimate again in tomorrow's match, I'll report you as a thrower to the league."

On the game map, the match had reached the seventeenth minute.

The score between the two sides was 16 to 2!

The gold gap exceeded ten thousand, and all outer towers on three lanes had fallen.

The five players on the purple side had become "acquaintances," with the captain, NovaSlash, being the most so.

At this moment, this team leader, who had been full of heroic spirit before the draw last night, had dilated pupils and was muttering to himself.

"It's okay; we still have a chance."

"It's just a ten-thousand gold gap; we have a teamfight composition; if the Imperial Prince and Kennen land their ultimates correctly, we can turn the tables."

"Captain..."

The jungler beside him, also covered in sweat, couldn't bear to see the other party's appearance of being unable to accept reality, so he reached out and tugged at the corner of the other's shirt.

Still have a chance?

Where is the chance coming from?

Was it referring to Kennen with a 0-6 score, or the Card Master who only used his ultimate twice in the entire match but died instantly both times upon landing?

Or perhaps the Caitlyn who hadn't been able to complete her second item yet?

With all outer towers on three lanes broken, they barely had any terrain to rely on, and the jungle was pitch black; the so-called chance was just deceiving themselves.

The most critical point was that NXG didn't even give them a chance to teamfight; they were either running around the map or on the way to run around the map the whole time; anyone who didn't know would think the blue side had played five Horsemen.

"The gap is too huge..."

"Who plays without making a single mistake?"

"Heh... I think after this match, I'll go back to playing solo queue; professional matches and such." The top laner of BLQG, who had been watching black-and-white TV for nineteen minutes until his Dao heart shattered, even had the thought of retiring on the spot.

Jiang Ming never expected that his pre-match instruction for his teammates to play beautifully would indirectly shatter the esports dreams of a group of young people right there on the spot.

However, the cruelty of esports is exactly this: either possess extraordinary talent like the Li-surnamed mid laner next door to break all barriers standing in front of you, or pack your bucket and leave early to seek another path.

In fact, the match on the field could have ended long ago.

It was just that considering today was the first live broadcast of the LPL professional league preseason, and with a kill difference of nearly double digits, giving them a twenty-surrender with no chance at all would truly have a bad impact.

Of course, it wasn't that good now either.

Opening the official LPL live broadcast room on a phone would reveal a string of comments about bot matches and the like.

"Ahem, the gold gap between the two sides has now been stretched to a very exaggerated number!"

"Fourteen thousand, equivalent to the left side having a thirty-thousand gold item ahead per person."

"There's no way; look, the left side's AD is directly ahead with an Infinity Edge; the damage is far higher than Caitlyn's; even if Varus just auto-attacks without using skills, Caitlyn standing there and trading shots might not be able to win."

Big Mouth himself didn't realize he had almost hung his classic quote out years early.

Joker was secretly startled.

He first learned about NXG from JM's livestream where he climbed to the top of the national server on YY; initially, like many players, he thought that a random streamer, even if personally strong, would find it hard to stir up much of a wave if he blindly entered the circle without understanding the core of professional matches.

But now it seems the mistake was a bit ridiculous.

This NXG team that had pushed all the way from the selection tournament to the current LPL preseason, and their performance after appearing in professional matches was even more exaggerated than before.

"In that case, the NXG Devil Training Schedule circulating online must be true; I wonder if it can be applied to WE."

Even if a deal falls through, righteousness remains; Joker was well aware that his current stable position in the commentary circle owed much to his former identity as WE's coach, and during match commentaries he often subtly directed traffic to WE; now seeing NXG in this state, he naturally and instinctively considered the interests of his old team.